Bokurano Overlap Redux
by King-of-Wings-360
Summary: Rewrite of Bokurano Overlap: an alternate telling of the fantastic Bokurano storyline, with an array of new characters and plot twists from the manga, anime, and light novel canon combined into one. Revised and redesigned, please read and receive.
1. Disclaimers, Descrpitons, and Characters

**Bokurano/ Overlap (Redux)**

by King-Of-Wings-360

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bokurano and have no desire to make any profit from this, aside from the many fans who will be groveling at my feet after reading this work of fiction.

**Notes: **Greetings to one and all viewers, once again. I am King-Of-Wings-360 and I am a huge fan of Bokurano. SO much of a fan, that I have had no choice but to nerd out and write a fan fiction about it. And so SO much of a fan that after doing much research on the story, I found some elements that slightly interfered with my original fan fiction. So from hereon out, I will be restarting and continuing Bokurano/ Overlap within this fan fiction.

Now I feel you should know, there will be aspects of this story familiar to those who have read both the manga and the light novel and seen the anime (if you are not familiar with either, please stop reading and see and read both of these before continuing; it will help you understand the story better without giving away any spoilers), and there will also be a few of my own touches in this, as well. X3

This fanfic will include the following characters:

Isao Kako, aka Kako

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Light Brown

Kirie and Chizu's schoolmate, he is very spoiled and self-centered with an inferiority complex.

Yosuke Kirie, aka Kirie

7th Grade

140cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Dark Brown

A poor, overweight child who is often bullied, was talked into coming by Kako and Chizu.

Masaru Kodaka, aka Kodama

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Light Brown

A quiet boy who keeps to himself, he has a warped view of the worth of people based on his father.

Kunihiko Moji, aka Moji

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Light Brown

A very kind and insightful boy, he is often seen as the leader of the group.

Nagi Namoto, aka Nagi

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Black

Moji's close male friend from school, he is very practical and easygoing.

Jun Ushiro, aka Ushiro

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

An assertive, stoic boy who puts it upon himself to look after others, specifically his sister.

Takashi Waku, aka Waku

7th Grade

155cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Black

An energetic and confident young boy, he is very insightful despite passing himself off as the opposite.

Daiichi Yamura, aka Daichi

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Despite his gruff, humorless exterior, he is a kind person who is hard-working and responsible.

Kanji Yoshikawa, aka Kanji

7th Grade

160cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

Ushiro's good friend from school, he is a cool and collective boy whose parents are architects.

Maki Ano, aka Maki

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

An outgoing tomboy who is very knowledgeable of the military via her otaku father.

Tsubasa Hiiragi, aka Tsubasa

7th Grade

147cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Black

Moji's close female friend from school, she is very kind and curious.

Chizuru Honda, aka Chizu

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Dark Brown

Kirie and Kako's schoolmate, often calm and quiet, yet seems to distance herself from boys.

Maria Ichinose, aka Maria

7th Grade

160cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Blonde

Waku's tall and spunky friend from school, noticed by others for her dark skin.

Takami Komoda, aka Komo

7th Grade

155cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Maki's quiet friend from school, she is the only daughter of a naval commander.

Kozue Kurasaka, aka Kozue

7th Grade

145 cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Dark Brown

Another classmate of Waku's, she is a paraplegic, but doesn't let it interfere with her lively attitude,

Yoko Machi, aka Machi

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Black

A very level-headed girl with freckles who hates being proven wrong, her father is a fisherman.

Mayako Makishima, aka Maya

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Her trademark features are her lolita-goth style of clothing and her scissor-shaped hair.

Mako Nakarai, aka Nakama

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Dark Brown

A kind girl who focuses on setting herself as an example of how others should live honestly.

Aiko Tokosumi, aka Anko

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Blonde

A very attractive girl who is very outgoing but not very smart, her father is a newscaster.

Kana Ushiro, aka Kana

4th Grade

130cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

Ushiro's younger sister, despite her her timid appearance she is actually very brave.

Thank you to those of you who will continue to read my fan fiction and to those who will be willing to give Bokurano fan fiction a try with this piece. In the future, I hope I will still be able to give you a good read. Have a good one.

-King-of-Wings-360


	2. Chapter 1: The Seaside Contractor

And now for the first chapter of my Fanfic rewrite. Again, I don't own any of the material present within this work, as it is solely being used for a fan-based work.

* * *

It was in the summer of our first year being middle school students that we had finally begun to see the true value of not only our lives, but of the whole world around us, as well. The weight of every single person on this planet was heaved unto our shoulders the day that we encountered 'it', despite how ignorant we had been of it at the time. And from the very moment that 'it' came into our lives, our youth had ended, leaving us to bear the true weight of adulthood and learn all that there was to being human. Through the days that the twenty of us endured together, we truly came to understand what it truly meant to live.

What it meant to hate.

To cry.

To kill.

To love.

To die.

* * *

Chapter 1: The Seaside Contractor

August 15, 2004

Sunlight shone brightly onto the countless graves of sand, heating the foot's sole for those among the twenty children that were not wearing sandals. With it being such a nice day out and their lessons done for the day, one of the dozen classes participating in the Mitomo City Summer Education Program had decided to take full advantage of such a day and enjoy a fun relaxing day at the city's beach.

Many of the students barely knew each other, but those within the separate classes seemed to form their own type of posse. This class, in particular, seemed to take the most advantage of the fact that the summer school was actually by a BEACH, as the twenty classmates hardly saw anyone else from the summer school outside with them. A fact that they would find to be convenient for today, but could not see how inconvenient it would be for them in the days to come.

All across the beach, all of the kids had found something to occupy themselves. Takashi Waku was rebounding his soccer ball off the rocks. Aiko Tokosumi decided to go for a swim in the ocean. Chizuru Honda just happened to be swimming, as well. Daiichi Yamura and Mako Nakarai were sitting by the rocks and talking.

Isao Kako was standing by the shore, gazing at Chizu swimming. Yosuke Kirie came up and made a comment to him, resulting in Kako slapping him in the back of the head. Maki Ano and Maria Ichinose were playing frisbee with Yoko Machi and little Kana Ushiro, the youngest in the class. Kozue Kurasaka was laying on her towel, taking in the sun's rays, with her wheelchair by her side. She tried her best to ignore the game of frisbee, as she wished to join them, but knew it would be difficult for her to do so.

Both Takami Komoda and Masaru Kodaka had decided to use this time out at the beach to read a book; Komo was reading what looked like a translated period piece from the west, and Kodama was reading a science fiction novel. They both must have been very caught up into their books, as Kanji Yoshikawa and Nagi Namoto had been sitting by the two, hyping over the release of some new video game for Playstation that Maki had told them about earlier. Quietly sitting by the two was Tsubasa Hiiragi, one of Nagi's schoolmates.

Kunihiko Moji, on the other hand, simply watched the others passed the early afternoon with happiness. He found it nice to be around such a lively bunch. Well, save for one or two of the more dull ones who had kept to themselves, mainly Mayako Makishima and Jun Ushiro, Kana's older brother.

* * *

"Hey, Moji!" He turned to see Waku calling out to him, his right arm holding a soccer ball and his left arm waving him over.

"How long are you just gonna just sit there and stare, man? C'mon. How 'bout we play a quick game?"

"Waku," Moji warmly responded, "why would you bring a soccer ball out here? We're all the way on the beach, y'know."

"Yeah, but most of the others are either swimming or sunbathing on the rocks, and the only other thing going on is frisbee." Waku then tossed the ball up in the air to bounce it off his foot. "And I'm a lot better at sports where I can kick something."

"Waku! Head's up!"

Before Waku could turn to face the familiarly tomboyish voice of Maki Ano, the accursed frisbee he went on about made a hard landing with the surface of his forehead, causing him to lose the kick of his soccer ball.

"Augh! Dammit, Maki! Would you watch your aim?"

"I think her aim was just about right." This sarcastic response came from none other than Maria, Waku's friend from school. As Waku and the two girls went on, the rest of the group began to gather to the commotion.

"Man, you guys broke my balance. I had a good thirty kicks in a row going there."

"Oh, yeah?" Kako replied, eagerly grabbing the ball so as to show off, "I bet I could top that with no sweat."

"Hey, you're more than welcome to try," replied Waku. Kako seemed to take this as an insult as he hastily tossed the ball to kick it, only to kick it hard into the rocks, causing it to rebound harshly. Everyone jolted their heads right at it with a fear of getting hit, mainly Kana, who the ball would of hit had it not been for the interception from Ushiro.

"Would you watch it, you moron? You're gonna give somebody a concussion," Ushiro said quite harshly to Kako.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know how hard to kick it?" Kako lamely responded, as if to excuse himself. "Like I've ever played soccer before." Nonetheless, a few of the kids still looked at him funny.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Anko asked curiously, returning from her swim with Chizu.

"Nothin' much," replied Kanji, "Waku and Kako were just having a little kick-off."

"C'mon, Kako. Kana could have gotten hurt..." Kirie added in before facing another slap across the head by Kako's hand.

"Okay! would you all quit rubbing it in my face? God!" Kako seemed to be really agitated by Kirie's small comment, as if everyone in the class was ganging up on him.

"Aw, just forget about it, guys," Maya replied from the sidelines, picking up the frisbee that hit Waku's head. "Let's just let bygones bey bygones and enjoy the nice day," she added as she tossed the frisbee with a hard aim.

The group couldn't help but notice how much distance the frisbee got, almost as if the wind was dragging towards a specific area, guiding it down a singular path. The frisbee then proceeded to drift across the ocean, heading towards what appeared to be a shack out in the sea connected to the shore by a small pier. Eventually, the frisbee managed to go so far that it tapped the window of the shack.

"Jeez, Maya," Kanji stated, "I wouldn't have thought that you'd be able to throw THAT far."

"My bad," Maya retorted, showing slight embarrassment.

"Well, I guess we're going to have to go get it," Waku soon implied. "I hope whoever lives there won't be too pissed off, or anything."

They had no idea that the owner of that shack had their eyes on them throughout the whole day.

* * *

Soon, the whole group arrived at the shack to apologize. Maki and Maria had originally wanted to go apologize by themselves, since it was their frisbee in the first place, but eventually Waku managed to convince everyone to come along.

The shack, slightly worn and very damp in appearance, was made more difficult to approach by the narrowness of it's pier, so the kids had to approach it single-file. Waku stayed behind a bit to help Kozue get across. Eventually, they all made way to the shack's large patio and faced the crooked-looking door.

"So, who's gonna knock?" Kako asked, nervously, "Well, don't think of asking me to do it. I wasn't the one who overshot the stupid frisbee."

"No, YOU overshot the soccer ball that almost gave my sister head trauma," Ushiro retorted, immediately pissing Kako off. "Whatever, I'll knock." And so Ushiro proceeded to do so.

The door was almost immediately answered by a tall, pale-looking man who looked to be about in his late thirties with white hair and rimmed glasses. The man appeared to be almost as friendly as he did shady at the same time.

"Oh, can I help you children?" The man inquired.

"Well, uh," Machi nervously began, feeling slightly off-put, "Y'see, we were kinda playing on the beach, and we accidently threw that frisbee over there towards your house, and..."

"Oh, so that was you kids. That was you kids..." The man murmured to himself, "Well, don't worry about it. It looks like you barely scratched it, anyway."

"W-well..." Machi went on, "I guess we'll just take it and be on our way, then..."

"Oh, wait. Do you have to leave right now?" The man almost immediately asked, "Are you sure you wouldn't want to stay for a bit? Maybe if I could offer you some tea-"

"Thanks, but we really should be go-" Maki began, but then she caught a glimpse of some of the man's inner possessions, discovering that his shack was chockfull of computers. "Hey, mister, what's up with the crazy setup?"

"Oh right, my computers. My computers..." The man replied, "Well you see, I'm actually here working on this project, and I usually come here from time to time for some inspiration for development on certain ideas. Game development, if you will."

"Wait, you mean you're a game developer?" Nagi immediately asked with much enthusiasm.

"Oh, yes, I am. Yes, I am..." He replied very monotonously, "To be honest, I was just working on a new game for which I could use kids like yourselves." The kids looked at him very cautiously due to that comment. "Oh, as beta testers, of course. Of course...Why don't you come inside and I'll tell you all about it."

Though they felt very weary of him, the kids ended up coming into his shack. It was much more spacious than it looked from the outside, though surprisingly the only source of light the man had in his shack aside from his computer monitors came from his windows; he didn't have a single lamp or light of any kind in his roof.

"So, what sort of game ARE you making here?" Nakama asked very straightforwardly.

"Oh, it's a very interesting game, actually, though the setup is a tad cliché" The man quickly answered, "The game centers around an invasion from a certain number of enemies, specifically twenty enemies in this case. And the only defense that the Earth has to protect itself will be a colossal robot, nay, a pitch black behemoth, gifted with strength beyond mortal reckoning. This robot, kids, is to be helmed by none other than...yourselves."

"Dude, that DOES sound pretty cool!" Maki stated. There seemed to be a bright shine in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm game." Kanji added.

"Well," said Waku, "I don't mind trying it out, I guess."

"Me neither," said Moji.

"Oh, well then," The man enthusiastically interjected. He then pulled out a red, arrow-like metal plate "If you're all interested, all you have to do is place you hand on this plate to 'contract' yourselves as pilots. It sounds corny, I know, but it'll be necessary for my program's server to let you play the game."

"Okay, I'll try it out," Waku said as he placed his hand on the plate. A text then flickered on one of the man's computers.

_Takashi Waku, Age 13, Type B, Born March 20th 1991._

"W-whoa..." Waku stated with much surprise, "How does it know all that about me?"

"Cool! Can I try next?" Maki asked excitedly.

_Maki Ano, Age 13, Type O, Born July 19th 1991._

"Me too!" Kako hastily interjected.

_Isao Kako, Age 13, Type B, Born August 4th 1991._

Soon, many of the others started to sign up.

_Kunihiko Moji, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 20th 1991._

_Mako Nakarai, Age 12, Type A, Born September 9th 1991._

_Tsubasa Hiiragi, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 22nd 1991._

_Kanji Yoshikawa, Age 13, Type O, Born March 3rd 1991._

_Daiichi Yamura, Age 13, Type A, Born May 19th 1991._

_Maria Ichinose, Age 13, Type O, Born April 28th 1991._

_Nagi Namoto, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 18th 1991._

_Aiko Tokosumi, Age 13, Type B, Born August 12th 1991._

_Kozue Kurasaka, Age 13, Type B, Born July 11th 1991._

_Yoko Machi, Age 12, Type B, Born December 5th 1991._

_Masaru Kodaka, Age 13, Type O, Born December 29th 1990._

_Takami Komoda, Age 13, Type A, Born March 15th 1991._

_Chizuru Honda, Age 13, Type AB, Born February 14th 1991._

Kirie had been next in line to sign up, but he seemed to be very hesitant in making his decision.

"What's up, Kirie?" Waku curiously asked.

"I...I dunno, guys," Kirie nervously mumbled, "I'm just not sure about all this-" but before he could finish, Kako impatiently slapped his hand on the pad.

_Yosuke Kirie, Age 12 Type A, Born October 15th 1991._

"Hey, what the hell, Kako?" Waku stated. "Couldn't you've given him a minute to think about it?"

"Hey, the sooner we all sign up, the sooner we can play," Kako simply stated. Maya then proceeded to sign up. She seemed to give a smirk as she did so.

_Mayako Makishima, Age 12, Type A, Born August 29th 1991._

Next to go up was Kana. Before signing up, however, she took a hopeful look at her brother.

"Jun, aren't you going to play, too?" Kana asked.

"Nah, I don't think so." Ushiro simply stated.

"But," Kana added, "I'd really like you to play, too. Otherwise it won't be as fun."

"C'mon, Ushiro," Waku butted in, "If we end up not liking it, we can always quit." The man looked at Waku sympathetically for making that statement.

Ushiro finally gave in. "Oh, fine, I'll do it. You go ahead and sing up first Kana. I'll do it after."

Feeling a bit happier, Kana proceeded to sign up as her brother asked her to do, with her brother following, as he promised.

_Kana Ushiro, Age 10, Type O, Born June 25th 1994._

_Jun Ushiro, Age 12, Type A, Born Noember 20th 1991._

"Oh, well judging from your ages, I would guess that you children are in middle school." The man assessed.

"Well, aside from Kana, yes," Waku retorted, "So how exactly do we play this game of yours, Mr...Oh. What's your name, anyway?"

The man hesitated for a moment. "Oh, well...You can just call me 'Kokopelli'."

The children looked at this Kokopelli person very curiously, after claiming to have a name as peculiar as THAT. "Just think of it as a pen name, if you'd like," Kokopelli quickly added. He then took a long pause.

"Well, it seems the game has now begun."

The curios feelings the kids held towards Kokopelli only grew greater from that one line.

"Hang on," Kozue inquired, slightly leaning towards him from her chair, "Isn't this supposed to be a computer game, or something?" He noticed that the gaze in Kokopelli's eyes began to darken.

"No, I'm afraid not," Kokopelli stated very abruptly. "That will all be made very clear to you, very soon."

The kids stared at him far more curiously than before, as if they were talking to a whole other person. "The next time we meet, I will demonstrate how to play the game to you. Until then, please try not to worry."

And before the kids could say anything, a wave of static overwhelmed them.

"Ugh, what happened...?" Daichi felt very sore after waking up from his nap on the rocks, although the nice and calm sunset upon the shoreline was able to help him feel a bit better. "Jeez, how late is it...Aw, man! Did I get left behin-"

But before he could finish, he immediately noticed that all the other kids were around him, and were sleeping as well. Waku slowly started to awaken from the deep pitch of Daichi's voice.

"Nmm...Hey, Daichi...Ugh, what time is it?" Waku groggily asked.

"I'd have to say it's pretty late in the afternoon," Daichi responded. "Look behind you." And so Waku slowly turned to face the sunset.

"Man, that's beautiful...wait...Aw, man!" Waku suddenly realized exactly HOW late it must have been. "The teach is gonna throw a fit if we're late for dinner. Hey guys, get up!"

Slowly, all of the other classmates began to awaken from their mysterious slumber. As they all got up, nobody had made mention of how it is they came to sleep on the beach, or about the strange dream they unknowingly all shared: that dream about the man at the shack who signed them all into that strange game with the robot.

Once they had returned to the school building, the teacher had given them but a light scolding on the late hour of their arrival before letting them eat in the dining hall. Kids from the other classes that were in the dining hall snickered at them. As they all sat together, eating their dinners and conversing with one another, Maki couldn't help but let out a sigh pinging towards disappointment.

"What's wrong, Maki?" Moji asked.

"Ah, nothing really, guys," Maki replied, "It's just that game seemed like it'd be really fun...Aw never mind. I'm just talkin' about that stupid dream I had." Yet he noticed that as soon as he mentioned 'game', everyone gave him a slightly shocked look of disbelief. "W-wait a minute. Do...do you guys know what I'm talking about?"

"That...that dream," Kirie quietly replied, "about the man in the shack who wanted us to play a game, right?"

"Y-yes. Exactly..." Maki said with amazement.

"That's too weird," Anko added to the disbelief. "We couldn't have all had the same dream, right?"

"Then that could only mean," Chizu plainly replied, "that it wasn't a dream at all."

"In that case," Maria inquired, "wasn't that Kokopelli guy supposed to teach us about the ga-"

But before she could finish, a huge rumbling sound vibrated through the building, knocking everyone onto the ground. But before the group hit the floor, the static wave overtook them once again.

They were still lying on the ground, but they all noticed immediately that it wasn't the ground of their school building. Rather, they found themselves in a rounded, spacious, brown-tinted area.

"W-where the hell are we?" Kako immediately asked, expecting someone to give him a quick and simple response.

"This is the cockpit," a voice replied to Kako. A voice familiar in his dreams. In all of their dreams.

The children then all turned to find that Kokopelli was in fact among them, sitting within a black armchair with three slender legs among a large ring of other types of strange chairs. He appeared differently than he did at first, however, as he now lacked the glasses he had on, making his eyes appear very narrow and hawklike, and had a large scar across his left cheek. He was also dressed completely in a long-sleeved black body suit with black boots. He almost appeared like a shadow, were it not for the pale gleam of his skin and long hair.

"I told you, didn't I?" Kokopelli asked. "We meet again, so now I am going to show you how to operate this robot."

"What?" Waku exclaimed. "We're actually inside a ROBOT right now?"

"Don't beileve me?" Kokopelli plainly responded. "See for yourself." The kids noticed that the brown-tint had disappeared, and replacing it was a breathtaking view of the entire area around them. The kids could see the beach, their school building, the city across. And just below them, they were able to make out a pair of long, black legs jetting to the ocean from beneath them. They WERE inside of a robot.

"This is incredible..." Kodama said without realizing that he was speaking out loud.

"Yeah, it's awesome," Maki replied. However, her attention drifted as a bright flash caught her eye. "Hey, what's that in front of us?" she pointed out. The kids all turned to face the front and see that Maki was not lying. A figure began to emerge before the robot from some kind of rift.

"It's time" Kokopelli said, with words filled with shear remorse.

-End of Ch.1-

In the next chapter: The strange game finally begins to unfold, as the mysterious man known only as Kokopelli shows the kids how to operate the black behemoth to fight against the enemy that emerges before them. Just how does this game work? Just who is Kokopelli? And what, if anything, could he have to hide? Find the answers to these questions in Chapter Two: Kokopelli vs. Arachne!

Auugh! Finally done with my first chapter, again. Sorry about the late start. Sorry also that this seems a lot like a crappy republishing of the first chapter from my original work. I will do all that I can to change things in this work soon enough. I write this fanfic with hopeful intent that readers will read stories like these and inform their friends of this manga/anime, because BOKURANO DESERVES MORE FANS!

Thank you for reading, and please try to stay tuned for the next chapter.

-King-of-Wings-360


	3. Chapter 2: Kokopelli vs Arachne

Now, it's time for another Chapter 2!

* * *

I don't own any of the material within this piece.

Chapter 2: Kokopelli vs. Arachne

August 15, 2004

A few seconds after the large impact, the children in the dining hall slowly began to get back up on their feet. Many of them were in a state of question and panic, curious if that impact may have been an earthquake, unquestioning to how any earthquake could be so short. And then, the children were faced with a second impact, immediately knocking them all on the ground once more. By this time, the teachers had all entered the dining hall to evacuate the children to the city's shelter.

As the respective classes hurried outside of the building to evacuate, they couldn't help but notice that out in the ocean, there were two colossal figures facing each other. The first, a black, humanoid creature with long slender arms and legs, with elongated plates jetting out from its chest towards its shoulders. The second, a pale white, insect-like creature with four long legs holstering it and two smaller pairs beneath it, dominated by a rounded head with a small tongue-like appendage in the front.

Before any of the children had time to react to the sight before them, the teachers kept moving them along to evacuate. Apparently, they were already aware that these two creatures were the cause of the rumbling earlier, and were urging the kids away from them for their own safety. The teachers were able to see to it that all of their classes were safely away, except for a few that they couldn't seem to find anywhere within the school area; the same group of children that came in later than the others for dinner.

* * *

This same group of kids were now standing in the cockpit of one of these enormous creatures, amazed to see how the insect-like creature had seemed to appear before them out of nowhere.

"Ugh," Anko exclaimed, with a grossed-out tense, "What's that gross looking thing supposed to be, anyway?"

"That is the first enemy," Kokopelli retorted, apparently unfazed by it's appearance, "that must be defeated to protect the Earth."

"Protect the Earth?" Waku stated, surprised by such a general response as that. "You mean that thing is a threat to the whole planet?"

"Unless the enemies much like this one are defeated within 48 hours, it is almost guaranteed that they will go on a rampage and attack everything within their path," explained Kokopelli.

"Why 48 hours?" asked Maki.

"That is the maximum amount of time allowed to operate the robot," Kokopelli continued to instructively explain. "Any longer, and the power supply of the robot will eventually give in, and it will no longer be operational."

This comment caused some discontent amongst the kids.

"Don't worry," Kokopelli reassured, "If you focus on the way that I battle the enemy, you should be able to defeat it long before the time limit is up."

Before the kids could ask anything else, they noticed that a small pack of military jets were flying over the robot that they were riding in.

"Whoa," Maki stated, "Those must be from the Self Defense Force."

"So that's the military of this planet..." Kokopelli murmured to himself. Waku had overheard him, however, and was about to ask what he was implying, when he noticed that the enemy began to move forward.

"Hey!" Waku pointed out, "It looks like the enemy's spotted them, or something!"

"No," Kokpelli retorted, "It's beginning its attack on us."

The kids soon found that he was not lying, as a massive array of lighting-type energy was being formed from the orb in the center of the enemy's head, releasing a powerful bolt at their robot. This attack drew the kids into some slight panic, but Kokopelli remained unfazed by its attack.

"Jeez!" Nagi exclaimed, "What the hell kind of an attack is that!"

"Nothing to worry about," Kokopelli reassured, "That was nothing more than a low-powered attack. It will barely do any damage to the robot. Now, perhaps we should try to attack, as well."

The kids were still slightly shocked by the very real sensation of the enemy's attack that had lightly echoed through the surface of the cockpit, but before any of them could say anything, they began to notice that their robot was beginning to move towards the enemy.

"W-what?" Maria blurted, "Are we moving?"

"Of course." The kids were unsurprised to see how quickly Kokopelli retorted. "It's a very basic system of operation, really. Simply command the actions of the robot with your thoughts of its actions, and it will obey and execute them. This is my first time moving it and even I find it to be relatively easy."

"First time?" Kozue questioned. "But I thought that you made this game!"

"No, I'm afraid that I wasn't completely honest with you, at first," Kokopelli replied. "You see, like you kids, I am no more than a mere pawn in the greater meaning of this game."

The kids were put at strong unease at this comment, when Kokopelli replied, "Please pay no mind to it. For now, simply sit back and watch so as to learn how to win the game." And with that, the kids were forced to draw their attention to the battle.

As their robot moved closer to the enemy, it had begun to move towards them, as well, though the kids noticed that the enemy moved slightly slower than them, the likely reason being that their robot was bipedal, while the enemy had four legs to work with. As the distance between the two grew shorter, the enemy tried to use it's front limbs to attack them. It managed to execute a powerful swing upon the right side of their robot, as they felt a portion of the force from its swing.

"Hmm," Kokopelli noticed that the blow had caused some of the side armor to chip. "This method of attack isn't quite as effective for it, either. Still, if we don't start fighting back now, there could be problems."

"T-Then hurry up and start fighting back, already!" Kako shouted nervously.

"I know. Don't panic."

And with that, Kokopelli used the arm of the robot to pierce into the pit of the enemy's front left limb, a multitude of thin lasers shooting out of the arm in the process.

"Wait," Moji asked, "this robot has an energy attack, too?"

"Yes," Kokopeli replied, "The robot comes standard with a high-powered laser pulse that can be emitted from any part of the structure. While it isn't as effective for external damage as the robot's incredible raw strength is, it can do a vast range of damage to the internal structure."

As a result from the lasers, the limb was quickly torn off, causing the enemy to stumble and draw back. Kokopelli replied to this by moving further towards the enemy and repeating the tactic with both arms to its two rear limbs. After which, the enemy leaped high through the cloud of smoke that the lasers caused and onto the mountain range nearby the school.

"It's trying to run away," Maya pointed out.

"That's no good." Kokopelli quickly rushed towards the enemy and slammed the robot's arm into its chest so as to knock it over. It then pinned the enemy to the ground with its arm. "If the enemy manages to evade us for too long, it will begin to regenerate and its strength will likely increase greatly."

"Is...is there anyway to defeat it, altogether?" Kirie quietly asked.

"Yes. In fact, there is only one way," Kokopelli grimly replied. Following his reply, the robot used its spare arm to tear away at the chest of the now cornered enemy, despite its attempts to shove the robot back. As it tore away further, the children saw that a large, spherical center lay in the middle of the enemy's now exposed chest. Kokopelli tore this sphere from its chest and held it up for the children to see.

"This is the way," he explained. "Each of the enemies that must be fought contains a certain core that allows them to regenerate. It usually varies in location within the enemy, but it will most often be located in the chest area. It is absolutely for you to find this core, and see to it that you completely destroy it." And with that, the robot emitted a smaller laser attack from the palm of its hand, obliterating the core to smithereens and notably killing the enemy, as the illumination in its face slowly died out.

"Well, I suppose that's all that there is to it," Kokopelli soon stated. "Now that my part is finished, it will be your turn the next time around to fight for the protection of the earth. Good luc-"

"Wait," Ushiro butted in. "There are still some more things that I think we need to cover." This time, Kokopelli took longer to reply to the statement than usual. This moment of taking his time to answer seemed very off-putting and put the kids at a bit of worry when he finally responded.

"Don't worry about that," Kokopelli finally replied. "My job as the demonstrator may be over, but I will still be here as your guide. Although the next time you see me, I may not quite be the same person you are familiar with, now."

Before Ushiro could reply to this, he noticed that the robot and the enemy began to disappear. The others soon followed his gesture.

"It looks like our time is up, for now." They looked back up to face Kokopelli's back as he stated this. "Until we meet again, I will be here if you ever need me." The kids soon felt a strange pressure, and realized that the static would soon take them over again. Before they teleported, Ushiro could swear that he heard a faint whisper come from the man.

_Forgive m-_

* * *

And suddenly the kids found themselves back in the dining hall of the school, Except now they were the only people present within it.

"Hey, where is everybody?" Kana asked.

"I don...WAIT!" Nakama responded. "They must have all evacuated to the center square for shelter."

"Crap!" Waku exclaimed. "We'd better hurry before they start to worry too much about us!"

So the group quickly rushed out of the building to Mitomo's center square to meet up with the teachers and other students.

* * *

Once they arrived, sure enough, they were met by their teacher who assured them a great deal of hell to pay for going off like that, but it was nothing that couldn't be discussed later. So the kids were sent off into one of the unoccupied parts of the square to rest for safety. As they went, they noticed that the other classes began to look at them funny and whisper about them. They finally arrived to an unoccupied corner and sat next to one another in a circle.

"Unbelievable," Daichi stated. "I-I just can't believe that all really just happened."

"But you guys saw, right?" Tsubasa responded. "Just before we left, the robot was still fazing away into the air."

"Yeah, we all saw it. It must've happened," Kozue quickly retorted.

"So, we really are gonna pilot it, huh?" Waku stated.

"Man, I can't wait for my turn!" Kako blurted out. "I bet I'm going to kick the next enemy's butt!"

"Hold on, Kako," Nakama added to Kako's statement. "Try not to take this too lightly. Because we have to pilot it, that also means that we have the whole world depending on us."

"But, that also makes us like heroes, or something, right?" Maki asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Absolutely!" Nagi retorted to bring some spirit into the group's mood. "This is going to be awesome!"

"Well,...that still means we'll have to try all the harder," Kirie added, "to see to it that we succeed."

"Well, at any rate," Maria stated, "it's at least agreed that there's no turning back. We're all in this together right?" They all nodded in greement.

"Also, it would probably be better for us to keep this a secret," Chizu calmly stated. They looked at her curiously over this comment. "I mean, if we tell anyone about it, we may lose our chance to pilot it."

"Agreed," Moji replied. "We're all in this together, so it's our secret to keep together." Everybody nodded in agreement once more.

Then Kana turned to face her brother, and noticed that he seemed to be bothered by something.

"Is something wrong, Jun?" Kana curiously asked her brother.

"It's just," Ushiro thoughtfully responded, "I could've sworn he was trying to tell us something, just before we left."

The others now looked at Ushiro curiously upon this statement.

"It almost sounded like...like he was apologizing for something."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kokopelli rose up from his chair and stood in the middle of the ring of chairs, thirteen including his own to be exact. As he glanced at every one of them, his face began to sink heavier and heavier.

"I can't..." he seemed to quietly murmur to himself, "I can't just abandon them..."

Suddenly, the entire ring of chairs that surrounded him disappeared out of thin air, leaving him alone in the beige cockpit.

"Yes, I can handle that, as a matter of fact," he replied to the emptiness. "After all, in the end, I don't have anything to go back to. Not yet."

Shortly after finishing his statement amongst the emptiness that surrounded him, Kokopelli also disappeared from the cockpit, leaving it completely void.

He disappeared, but was far from gone.

* * *

-End of Ch. 2-

In the next chapter: The kids are still left in awe from the incredible battle that they are all now a part of, and as promised, the mysterious Kokopelli makes a comeback, but in a different way than the kids expected. The story unfolds even further in the next addition of Chapter Three: The Chairs Reforged.

Well, I have the next one up, once again; that's what counts in the end. Hopefully, the next one won't take quite as long.

Again, thank you for reading.

-King-of-Wings-360


	4. Chapter 3: The Chairs Reforged

Chapter 3, reposted, but with some very notable adjustments.

I own none of the content within this work, except for my fandom.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Chairs Reforged

August 23, 2004

It had been eight days since the two giant behemoths had appeared at Mitomo Island. Throughout those eight days, the fight between the two had made all the major headlines of news stories across the country and beyond, and became an immensely popular icon throughout the mass voices on the Internet. Kanji and Maki had been looking into this throughout all their spare time in those eight days, when they weren't cleaning the classes as punishment for taking off during the evacuation.

"Kanji," Waku called as he entered the computer lab, "are you and Maki still glued to those things? You guys said that you were only gonna take a break for, like, ten minutes." The other kids in the group soon followed him inside until they were all crowded around the computers.

"Sorry," Kanji responded, "but, man, you should see this. Almost every few seconds, a new page is added to this search engine with loads of links. People have really gotten into this all across the web. You wouldn't even think that it's only been eight days since those two robots showed up."

"Hey," Kako interjected, "is there anything on us in there!"

"As if," Kozue replied. "I mean, we all agreed that we would keep this between the twenty of us, didn't we?" Kako had a look of disappointment plastered all over his face.

"The Internet isn't the only place you can hear about this," Anko said. "The news is getting a huge break out of it, too. It's pretty funny to think that I'd be involved in one of my dad's top stories." She seemed very cheery about it, yet felt a bit depressed after making such a comment.

"Top stories?" Kako asked, sarcastically. "What, is your dad supposed to be, like, on the news, or something?"

"Well, yeah, actually," Waku replied. "Her dad's Akira Tokosumi from News Claimer. I've seen a lot of his work. He's pretty much the reason that it's the top news program on TV in Japan. I thought you would've known that, Kako."

"Okay! Okay! Shut up about it, already!" Kako snapped back. Anko couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Still," Maki intervened, "you'd be amazed how many online blogs are loaded with praise and fandom over that one fight."

"The last time I checked," Kanji added, "some guys even started online cults for the one that we were riding in."

"Jeez," Ushiro replied, "The Internet really DOES have everything." Kana looked up at him and nodded her head in agreement.

"It's been a while since the fight, though," stated Chizu, "hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Machi replied. "I was kinda expecting that the next fight would start sooner."

"To be honest," Maya added, "I think that I'm beginning to lose interest in riding in that robot again."

"Well, yeah," Moji stated, "but then again, isn't it a good thing that they aren't coming too quickly? I mean, think of how much of an uproar people would be if these battles just came day after day."

"It...it's all just too surreal to me," Daichi butted in, "if you guys want to know the truth." Everyone looked at him, surprised by that comment. "I know it's pretty crazy to think so, but for the past few days I've just been thinking to myself tat maybe we were never in that robot. Maybe we were knocked out after falling from our table." An uncomfortable feeling loomed around the room, followed by small murmurs of unease and understanding towards Daichi's opinion.

"It wouldn't do you very good to think that way."

The group was startled from the familiar voice that came mysteriously came from the room, as they all began to scan the room for the person who called to them.

"Okay, who's screwing around with us?" Ushiro questioned to the mystery voice when he looked up to the ceiling to see a strange little creature floating above their group. It didn't take long for the other kids to take notice of this creature once Ushiro let out a surprised gasp form laying his eyes on such a thing.

"W-what the hell is that?" Kako nervously questioned. The very creature that the group was staring at would best be described as having a large pale-white mushroom-cap head with black beady eyes, a small square nose, a rounded smile that stretched all around it's head, and big black cheeks, a long scar visible on one of them. Atop this giant white head was a pair of curved ears pointed downwards at the ends, and from the bottom came a tail of sorts with four pointed ends.

"God! What IS that?" Maria excalimed.

"I have no ide-" Waku retorted before something came to his mind. "Wait. Could it be..." With the voice calling out to them earlier being so eerily recognizable and the oh so familiar scar across the creature's cheek, Waku was able to put two and two together with this scenario. "Kokopelli?"

"That's right." The creature answered, its mouth revealing a set of small pointed teeth that never opened. "It's good to see you all again. I apologize if it's been too long since we last met." While the kids were still in awe over the strange creature that was hovering before them, they did feel a slight sense of comfort from having actually known that it used to be a person that they were familiar with.

"Well," Ushiro spoke up after the bewilderment, "you've finally shown up again. So now can I ask you what it is that I wanted to know before."

"Oh, yes, of course," Kokopelli replied. "I'd be more than happy to answer any questions that you kids may have now."

"Well, first of all-" Ushiro began, until Kako bluntly interrupted him.

"I wanna ask first!" Kako blurted out. "Are we gonna get to pilot the robot again! Do we get some kinda reward for this! Are we gonna be heroes for saving the world!"

"You really shouldn't interrupt people," Kokopelli replied as he turned towards Kako, "so I will only answer your first question for YOU." Everyone chuckled at Kokopelli's response, and Kako's face was again plastered with a look of disappointment. "And to answer your question, yes, you will get to pilot the robot again. All of you will, since you all signed the contract." He then turned back to Ushiro. "Now, what was your first question going to be?"

"Right.," Ushiro assured. "First of all, exactly how dangerous is this going to be?"

"Well, I should say that the amount of danger in the situation solely depends on how you perform as a pilot." Kokopeli replied. "And your next question?"

"Mind if I go next?" Moji asked, to whom he simply shrugged his shoulders in approval. "Where exactly is the robot right now."

"I currently saw to keeping the robot hidden in the water," Kokopelli simply stated. "Once we're all finished with the questions, I was actually planning on sending you there. The inside of the robot, I mean."

"Are the enemies we fight always gonna be that gross?" Anko interjected.

"Gross?" Kokopelli seemed to be off-put by the of her question. "Well, they don't all look the same. Really, the enemies come in a wide variety of forms, so I wouldn't know if all of them could be considered 'gross'."

"Uh, I've been meaning to ask," Machi stated, "What's up with the new look? I mean, is this what you really look like? Did you just disguise yourself as a human for us or, well, what?"

"Hmm... How should I put it..." Kokopelli pondered for a bit on how to answer this, when he finally came to a sensible response. "Let's just say that my previous form was the form I took on as your instructor, and this form here is the form I've chosen to take on as your guide. More or less, though, I am still Kokopelli, the one and the same. So, anything else?" For a while, nobody could think of another question, until Komo finally raised her hand and began her question.

"Is it possible at all," Komo asked, "to drop out of these battles."

"I'm afraid," Kokopelli answered, "that you will not be able to drop out of them. No." The group gave him a surprised look based on this reply. "Since you children are all a part of the contract now, It will be your duty now to see to it that you fight these battles and win for the sake of the earth. It's as simple as that." There was a pause among them after a while. "Well, if that's all for the questions, let's be on our way to the cockpit."

"W-wait!" Waku hastily asked before Kokoeplli could begin the teleportation. "Sorry, but there's just one thing that I want to make frank. This IS still a game, isn't it?"

* * *

"Undoubtably," Kokopelli bluntly stated, putting Waku at a bit of unease. "Well, I suppose it's right about time for us to go now." And with that, the ever-pestering static returned to take them.

The static then went as soon as it had come, and the group found itself within the brown-tinted cockpit.

"Back in the cockpit again," Kanji commented.

"Back in the robot again, too," Daichi abruptly added.

"Weird," Maya stated. "Now that we're back, it really doesn't seem like it's been that long since Kokopelli's fight." She had already forgotten that Kokopelli was still very much among them.

"Wait," Tsubasa exclaimed. "This is really different!"

Yeah," added Nagi. "What happened to all the chairs that were here last time?" The rest of the kids began to notice that was. The cockpit was almost completely vacant aside from their presence, the ring of chairs from the last fight now nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, I took the liberty of removing them since you kids won't be needing them this time around," Kokopelli quickly responded. Some of the kids looked very puzzled by this comment.

Meanwhile, Kokopelli had then noticed that one of the children, Kodama, had stumbled upon a familiar object: Kokopelli's glasses, which, as it turend out, were fake. "Huh. I was sure that I had gotten rid of those since last time," he stated as he hovered towards him.

"Well, this is where I found them," Kodama stated. "I don't suppose you'd mind if I hang on to these?"

"By all means," Kokopelli replied. "I won't need them, anymore." And with that, Kodama applied the fake glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Anyway," Kokopelli continued, "I think it's right about time that I looked into your minds."

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?" Maria exclaimed, the other children clearly as startled as she was. But before anyone else could ask what he meant, the saw before them that a ring of objects seemed to have appeared before them. The kids were held in awe at this new spectacle; they were staring at a new ring of chairs.

"This is what I meant," Kokopelli retorted after allowing them to absorb the moment. "I did say that you wouldn't need those old chairs, so I made you a whole set of new ones. I'm more than sure you should be able to recognize which ones belong to you."

Sure enough, a few of the children had already begun to flock towards each chair that they were individually all too familiar with.

Nagi had taken a metal folding chair next to a piano stool, which turned out to be Komo's, followed by Tsubasa who took the slim armchair to Nagi's right. Strangely enough, Moji had chosen the rocking chair to Tsubasa's right, which caused a bit of confusion amongst the kids.

Kodama went to a large black office chair to the left of a baby crib that stood between him and Komo. Nakama took the sewing chair to his left, followed by Daichi who took the floor cusion to Nakama's left, and Machi who sat in the fishing chair to Daichi's left.

Among the group, everyone would have assumed that the childish chair next to Kanji's chair in the ring would have belonged to Kana, but were surprised to see that it actually belonged to Ushiro, with Kana taking the ottoman to the chair's right. Kako couldn't help but tease Ushiro over this. Kanji then sat in the computer chair to Ushiro's right.

Kako had quickly rested himself in the long white lounger chair in the right corner. Chizu then quietly took the fancy black chair next to him, and Kirie proceeded by sitting in the ornate stool next to Chizu. Anko was also quick to seek comfort in the large sofa in the bottom corner which she claimed to be hers.

Maki was conflicted on wether her chair was the baby crib in the left corner or the swivel chair to the left of Anko's sofa. Maya quickly solved this conflicting problem for her by claiming the swivel chair to be her chair, assuring Maki to claim the crib for herself.

Maria then found herself a place on the tatami mat to the left of Machi's fishing chair with Kozue wheeling herself over to the wheelchair beside Maria, just as everyone had expected. This left only a plastic green chair that stood in between her and Kirie, which Waku soon claimed to be his. And with this, the kids found themselves sitting perfectly within the ring.

"Whoa," Machi exclaimed. "These chairs are actually pretty cool."

"Yeah," Anko added. "It feels like I'm floating."

"Before you all get too comfy," Kokopelli butted in,"I'd recommend that you all get up for a moment."

"For what?" Kako questioned. But before he could hear a response from Kokopelli, the kids noticed that the ring chairs had begun to spin clockwise with them still in it. Quickly, many of the children had begun to scream as the chairs spun faster and faster. They had been spinning so frequently that they were not able to notice the symbol that appeared on the floor: a red mark similar to that of the face plate of the robot. Finally, the spinning had begun to come to a cease, with Nagi's foldng chair floating atop the symbol, and Nagi himself too dizzy to notice.

"For that," Kokopelli replied.

"Auuughh..." Kanji groaned dizzily. "For future reference, guys, next time Kokopelli tells us to get off of the chairs, do it!" Everyone groaned in agreement.

_Nagi Namoto_

Just as Nagi began to collect himself, he was surprised to hear such an ominous voice come out from nowhere, and call his name, no less.

"Hey, uh...," he asked, "did any of you guys just hear that, too?" everyone looked at him with dumbfounded expressions. "That voice I mean," he quickly added.

"Hmm..." Kokopelli pondered. "I suppose that you're up first then."

"First?" Nagi asked. After a few seconds, however, he was able to come to a sudden realization. "Wait, does that mean... **I'm** going to pilot it next?"

"Yes," Kokopelli plainly retorted.

The rest of the kids stared at him with a hint of bewilderment. They were all curious to see how Nagi would be able to handle this task. Moji and Tsubasa looked slightly worried.

"All right!" Nagi shouted, pumping himself up. "This is gonna be awesome!"

Minutes later, the kids were all teleported back into the computer lab, but with Kokopelli nowhere to be found.

"Huh?" Kana was slightly surprised. "We're back already?"

"Looks like it," Kanji calmly stated. The kids noticed that someone was heading their way who seemed to recognize their voices. Suddenly, they were met by the face of their homeroom teacher, who appeared to be notably agitated.

"You Kids!" the teacher declared. "Is THIS where you all went off to?"

"Heheh...Yeah," Machi chuckled. "Sorry about that."

"I swear..." the teacher's teeth were practically seething, "You lot are really beginning to get on my last nerve..." Everyone shot him an embarrassed look with hopes that it would get them off the hook. This proved to be futile, as they were all given lunch detention in addition to cleaning the classrooms soon after the conflict in the lab.

"Good evening, and welcome to our late night session of News Claimer. For our first coverage of the night, local university reports have given conclusive data that the recent offshore earthquake at Mitomo Island was surprisingly shown to have a focal depth of 0km. While this is indeed unprecedented and never seen in recent records before, other professionals hold the standpoint that the rupture was clearly caused by the surprising appearance of the behemoths that appeared only days ago..."

As Akira Tokosumi's broadcast was being shown over the late night news, his own daughter was watching him from one of the school's sofas on a large plasma-screen television.

"Wow, Anko," Maki stated, "Your dad is really good at this."

"Yeah," Anko replied. "He's really dedicated to his work."

Dinner had passed and the kids had all gone to their own little activities in one of the school's rather spacious lounges.

Anko had decided to watch a little television, and was accompanied by Maki, Kana, Machi, and Maria. Nakama, Daichi, Kozue, Tsubasa, Nagi, and Moji decided to get an early start on their summer homework. Nagi was too enthusiastic to really focus on his work, however. He seemed to be sweating a lot.

Maya and Chizu were tending to the laundry. Kanji went to surfing the web on his laptop. Komo was sitting beside him, reading her book, again. Kodama had hunched over his PSP for over an hour, with Kirie and Kako spectating.

"Hey!" Kako blurted, shoving Kirie to the side. "Why don't ya scoot over and give us some room?"

"Uh...s-sorry," Kirie unnecessarily apologized, and with that, he went over to the table that the others were doing there homework at. Moji then gave him his seat and went to the patio door to take a walk outside. Kako soon got bored and went over to Kanji at his laptop.

"Hey, anything come up about us yet?" he asked.

"If nothing came up an hour ago, where would you get the idea that there would be anything now?" Kanji sarcastically questioned. The third plastered look of disappointment in a row bestowed itself upon Kako's face as a few of the kids chuckled.

Ushiro was quietly sitting by the glass patio door, keeping his eyes on Kana. He had come to notice that aside from Moji, who had just gone outside, the only other person missing from their group was Waku.

"Hey, Maria," he asked, "You know where Waku is?"

"Huh?" she pondered. "Oh, yeah. Earlier he said he wanted to get a breath of fresh air, or something like that." Ushiro glanced over his shoulder through the glass door and saw that Maria was right. Waku was at the outerportion of the patio, with Moji heading in his direction.

Moji walked on towards Waku as he kept strong concentration on bouncing his soccer ball off of his foot. Eventually, Moji's presence caught his attention, so he caught his ball so as to talk with him.

"Oh, hey dude," Waku said. "What's up?"

"Hi, Waku," Moji replied. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now, and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind some company."

"Oh, sure" Waku reassured him, taking a seat on the patio's grass. Moji soon followed the notion. "So, what's eating you?"

"I guess I'm just a bit concerned," Moji began, "about the next battle."

"Yeah," Waku responded. "I know that it's been a while since Kokopelli showed us how to fight and all, but I don't think that it'll have much of an impact on how we fight. We just have to keep our minds focused and our determination strong and we can beat whatever comes at us, right?"

"Well, yes, but that's not exactly what's bugging me about it," he continued. "It's more that I'm concerned about Nagi."

"Huh?" Waku turned and looked at him curiously. "Whuddya mean?"

"Have you noticed the way that he's been acting, lately?"

"Actually, now that I think about it," Waku began to ponder, "this is the most pumped-up I've seen him all summer."

"That's what I'm worried about," Moji continued, "I'm not sure if this will be too much on him." He soon noticed that Waku didn't quite understand what he meant.

"Well, we never told you guys," he explained, "but the truth is that Nagi wasn't always in the best of health." As he continued, his look became much more solemn. "Last year, while the three of us were in our first year of middle school, Nagi began to have frequent heart palpitations, and as soon as we took him in to see a doctor, we were told that he had cardiac dysrhythmia."

"Heart problems?" Waku blurted out in shock. "I didn't think it was anything that extreme! And he seemed so normal when we all got to know him, too..."

"Yeah," Moji replied. "So after we found out, Tsubasa and I tried to get him used to certain activities that were a bit easier on him. That's actually the reason that we asked him to come to this summer school with us. The environment seemed like the calm and easy atmosphere that he could use."

"And then we found out about the giant robot," Waku filled in.

"Exactly," Moji assured. "And now that he's been chosen as the first to pilot it, I'm worried that it may be too much of a strain on him. I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

"Well," Waku began to rationalize, "given that factor, I don't think I'd want him to handle something like that either. But, he was chosen, right? And Kokopelli did say that we can't drop out of the battles. So we'll just have to give all the support that we can to make this as little of a strain as possible on him, don't you think?"

"I know," Moji replied, "but still, maybe if there was a way that someone could take his pla-" But just before he finished, something had caught is eyes, and a look of surprise soon swept his face. Waku had inquired what was wrong, turning to the shocking sight that had cut him off. Before them, they were surprised to see a pair of bulky, dark-green legs synthesize from thin air.

The next battle had already begun.

-End of Ch. 3-

In the next chapter: Just as quickly as he was declared the next operator of the great behemoth, the child is now sent in the fray after what seemed too long of a wait. The boy with greater problems than he would show is, at this very moment, standing atop the world about 500 meters with the safety of the planet in his hands as he is brought forth to handle this new opponent. What can he do? What will he do? The newest battle for the Earth will be shown in full in Chapter Four: Nagi vs. Blitz.

With this new adjustment to my chapter, I do hope that I will be able to progress faster with this, but who am I to keep such promises?

Hope you keep reading. Have a good one.

-King-of-Wings-360


	5. Chapter 4: Nagi vs Blitz

Oh my God, I can't believe it's been this long since I've updated. Sorry, everyone. I've just been dealing with a lot lately, but with spring break here now, I can finally get my head clear and get back to psoting and writing.

Now it's time for a new battle!

I own none of the material within this piece.

* * *

Chapter 4. Nagi vs. Blitz

August 23, 2004

"This just in! It appears that another creature has begun to appear at Mitomo Island! There is no clear conformation, but based on the footage presented, this creature does not seem to bear any resemblance to the previous two that appeared only eight days ago. It is suggested for all residents within the area of Mitomo Island to head to the nearest shelter..."

As quickly as the latest news bulletin had come on News Claimer, the children in the lounge were already crowding around the glass door to the patio. They had seen the new creature begin to form before them as plain as day. Strangely enough, nobody running through the halls bothered to call out to them to evacuate as they ran for the shelter, wether they had noticed the group or not.

"It's here..." Kodama blankly stated. "It's appeared at the island again..."

"All right!" Nagi exclaimed. "I didn't think I'd get to fight this soon! This is going to be awesome!"

"Ugh!" Anko groaned. "I really hoped it wouldn't be gross..."

"Wait!" Tsubasa quickly gasped. "Moji-kun is still outside with Waku-kun!"

"I don't see them anywhere on the patio," Ushiro replied. The others looked at the patio to see that the spaces that they were standing in were now, indeed, vacant of their presence.

"Oh, crap!" Maki exclaimed. "Do you think they know?"

"We should go tell them," Daichi calmly stated, while still holding a bewildered look of concern on his face. "If they're still out there, then by the time this thing takes shape, they could get hur-" But before he could finish, he had been overcome by the static wave again, as had the others.

* * *

As quickly as they had caught sight of the new creature taking form before them, Waku and Moji soon found that they were no longer staring into the once open night sky, but now at the enclosing brown tint of the cockpit's interior.

"Good. We're inside," Waku quickly commented.

"But," Moji began, "where's everybody else?" Within seconds, however, the two of them soon found that the remaining members of the group began to appear within the cockpit. Kokopelli soon appeared amongst the lot of them, as well.

"Well," he stated, "it seems that everyone is present and accounted for. What say we get started then?" And in no time, each of the individual kids made their way to their hovering chairs, Nagi being the last to get to his. Once his seat was taken, the beige walls of the cockpit melted away to reveal a dark-blue surrounding which was the ocean of Mitomo Island. No trace of the island was visible from the depth that they sat at, nor any trace of their new opponent.

"Hmmm..." Kokopelli thought aloud amongst the seated group. "It seems that this one is certainly taking its time." The children were surprised that this enemy would be taking extra time to invade their world. This new enemy, which they would have to fight against and destroy to protect their planet, all by themselves.

"Hey," Nagi began, "Just to be sure, I'll be able to move this thing just by my thoughts, right?"

"That is quite correct," Kokopelli replied. "Just as simple as it sounds."

"What we should do," Moji began, "is that as soon as the enemy has finished materializing, Nagi should bring this thing above sea level, obviously. Then maybe try the laser attacks against it. If all else fails we can always resort to using this thing's strength; this..." He paused in mid-sentence for a brief moment. "Uh, what's the name of this robot again?"

"Name?" Kokopelli was notably puzzled by this question. "It doesn't have a name."

"It doesn't?" Waku was slightly surprised by this. "Really?"

"Nobody ever bothered to give it one," Kokopelli simply replied.

"Huh," Waku stated. "Well, it seems like there's still some time before we have to fight. What say we come up with a name for this thing, you guys?"

"Sure," Maki cheerfully replied. "I say we give it a really cool name."

"Oh! I know!" Kako bluntly interrupted. "We'll name it 'Isao-20'! Or maybe 'The Kakonator'! Or even 'Omnisao'! Or maybe-"

"Kako, shut up!" Kanji cut him off. "Quit centering all your name ideas around yourself! This robot is all of ours!" Again, the plastered look of disappointment easily found its way to Kako's face.

"I say we call it 'Anza'!" Anko claimed.

"That doesn't sound too b-" Machi quickly cut herself off. "Hey wait! Anko, that's just the name of a pop singer!" Anko blushed and tilted her head to the side.

"Well," Kanji began, "it's an uncolored...fearsome...overwhelmingly huge creature...abbreviate that, and you've got...The U.F.O.!" Kanji soon realized how corny the name sounded, and quietly backed into his seat.

"How about 'Druxia'?" Ushiro questioned.

"That's not bad, but maybe we should call it something like 'Korgodon'," Kozue said. "That way it sounds a little more fierce."

"Or maybe 'Gettaman'," Tsubasa said, "To make it more heroic."

"'Scraggler'," Machi said.

"'Samuraiger'," Maria added.

"'Carvanos'," Kodama threw in.

"'Ovaria'," Chizu plainly stated. Many of the kids looked at her very awkwardly, however.

"How about 'Koro-Koro-Rokon', while we're at it?" Maya lazily suggested.

After some time, it seemed that nobody could decide. Waku then turned over to Kirie.

"What about you, Kirie?" he stated. "You have any ideas?"

"Me?" Kirie quietly asked. "Well...I guess I could try to come up with something..."

"I...I think," he soon began, "I think that the name of this robot should stand for us. Well, not only those of us in here...Maybe also the people of our country, or on a very long stretch, the Earth, for that matter-"

"Hey! That just gave me a great idea for a name, you guys!" Maki immediately shouted out. Everyone then turned their attention to her. "Well, like Kirie was saying, we're all going to be fighting along side each other and with those around us in order to protect the Earth, so what if we called it something like... ZEARTH!" There was a small pause for everyone to absorb the suggested name.

"Zearth?" Ushiro finally said. "You mean like Z-Earth, for 'The Earth'?"

"I know it sounds kinda corny," Maki added, "but it's the best I could come up with after hearing Kirie's statement."

"That's actually not half bad," Waku replied. "I think it's a pretty cool idea for a name."

"I think it's lame," Kako stated.

"Well that settles it," Kanji retorted to him. "I'm for Zearth. You guys?"

"Yeah, I think it's kinda cool," Anko said.

"Me too," Machi added.

"I like it, too, actually," Moji stated. "What do you think, Nagi?"

"Well, I guess it'll work," Nagi responded. "Sure. Let's stick with that."

"Alright!" Maki shouted humorously. "That settles it! This bad boy is officially named Zearth from here on out." Everyone then nodded in agreement, while Kako had murmured to himself that he still thought his name ideas were cooler. "Well," she continued to herself, "we've got our robot named, so that's a plus. Now if only we could find some uniforms, or some cosplay to go wit-"

"Oh," Kokopelli gently interrupted, "It appears that the enemy is completely materialized." And he was very right, for just as soon, a pair of thick curved legs began to fall into the ocean before them, with noticeable tremors following. Moji thought to himself how the tremors were far worse for the people on the island than for themselves.

"Okay, you guys," Nagi stated aloud in a reassuring manner, "Let's make this happen, right?"

Nagi's mind drifted back to the situation at hand; before him was a far greater unseen foe which he would have to muster up a great amount of will power to fight. But first, he knew that he would have to rise to face his enemy. In that moment, he felt a slight tension in his muscles as if he was ready to move and suddenly he noticed that the limbs of Zearth were mimicking the motions that he had imagined taking, as it soon began to rise from the ocean floor.

"W-whoa!" Kozue exclaimed as the cockpit shook with Zearth's motions. "We're really moving!"

Nagi was not able to take notice of this exclamation, however, as he had focused his mind on lifting the robot to face the opponent. Once the robot had fully risen, the group was able to get a much better view of the island from far to the side from them.

And just in the opposite direction was the new enemy that they were to face. The shape of this enemy was very distinct compared to the previous enemy; it had a very dark green hue, a pair of long claw-like appendages, and a small armored head standing atop a slender neck with a large bulb-like base from which eight curved legs emerged and dug into the ocean floor to keep its balance.

"Jeez," Maki stated in an almost admiring tone. "Gross or not, this thing seems like it'll be way tougher than the first one."

"Okay, Nagi," Moji began, "Like Ushiro was saying, first we should see how this enemy handles the lasers. Take aim at it, charge up the lasers, and blast at it."

"You got it, man," Nagi responded. And with that, he began to ponder just how to work the lasers in the first place. He then felt a surge of energy course its way through his body all the way to the middle of his chest, and looked to see that an immense collection of bright light had gathered around Zearth's chest, as well.

"That's it!" Waku soon commented. And at that moment, he noticed that the enemy began to raise it's large arms into an offensive stance. Shortly after, the legs of the enemy began to skid clockwise along the water, causing it to move straight towards them. "Oh, crap! It's coming!"

Within that concentration of light growing before him, Nagi immediately understood what to do. As his enemy began to move closer, he moved towards it slightly and immediately unleashed all of the concentrated energy onto his foe. As soon as the lasers had made contact with it, a thick layer of smoke surrounded the attacked creature.

"Did it work?" Tsubasa asked, as everyone had kept their focus towards the thick cover in front of them.

And then the creature reemerged from the smoke, moving closer and closer towards them.

"Damn!" Nagi blurted.

"I guess the lasers won't be sufficient enough to damage it's surface," Nakama began to analyze, "so you'll have to resort to direct offense, Nagi." As soon as she had made the suggestion, however, the creature swung its large right claw at Zearth's side, causing it to tumble slightly. Fortunately, Nagi was quickly able to maintain the robot's coordination and move back before the creature's left claw could hit them.

"Whoa, nice dodge!" Kodama stated, taking special regard of how much more fluent the robot's movements had become as Nagi piloted.

The creature began to swing at them again, and Nagi quickly jumped to the side. It swung again, and Nagi dodged to the other side, although the creature was able to leave a rough dent in Zearth's right arm.

"Nagi, c'mon," Kanji said, curious about his constant dodging. "You're gonna have to hit it sooner or later."

"Sorry," Nagi replied, "It's hard to find an opening on this guy." As he replied, he appeared to be slightly exhausted.

Some of the children took a moment to look at Nagi, while others had their attention focused on the enemy before them. Nonetheless, they all shared concern as to how Nagi could attack this opponent. Then Nagi had a quick idea that he wished to try.

"All right, hang on guys. I'm going to try to charge at it."

"Charge?" Many of the kids were more shocked at the simplicity of his attack strategy than his choice of words.

"Nagi that might not be such a good idea." Moji replied; yet soon enough, Nagi had held out Zearth's hands to form a spear, and he soon used a good deal of Zearth's power to charge right at the enemy. AS it moved closer, though, the enemy quickly shifted to the side of his path.

"Guess that wasn't such a bright move after all." Kako retorted, which earned him a few glares.

"Damn! I guess it can dodge pretty quickly, too," Nagi cursed under his breath. He looked both agitated and strained form this. "Maybe I'll try to go for another one-"

But before he could finish, the enemy made a surprisingly quick dash at Zearth, knocking it right back. As the enemy proceeded to tower over Zearth, the kids were in slight panic about how they were staying balanced after being knocked over.

"Don't worry, Kokopelli reassured them, "the cockpit is specially designed for you to float."

As they floated, their enemy soared over them and held them down with its one claw while pummeling their chest area with the other.

"Aw, man," Waku stated, "at this rate, it's gonna pummel its way right through our armor. Nagi we need to try to get this guy off."

"I know that, man!" Nagi retorted, trying to think of a new strategy, "I'm trying to think but nothing's coming to mind. Dammit, what else can I do?" As he thought, his breathing became all the heavier.

"Snap out of it and fight that thing already, stupid!" Kako rudely blurted, causing Nagi even more stress. Chizu then proceeded to give Kako a sharp glare, which immediately shut him up.

"Nagi, listen for a moment," Moji calmly assured, "You were chosen to go first, but that doesn't mean you have to place everything on yourself. Just calm down and think of the mistakes that we made, along with some of our flaws, and reflect that off of the decisions that the enemy has made." As Moji continued, the enemy raised up its right claw. "Just try to think: What are some of it's own flaws that it's tried to avoid?"

As Moji finished, Nagi took a brief moment to analyze the enemy for all of it's features, and he soon began to take notice of the great difference in proportion of its arms to its legs.

The enemy then swung its claw down straight towards them. Many of the kids panicked with worry that they would be crushed to death.

Anko began to scream.

And another idea soon hit Nagi.

Suddenly, just before the enemy's blow struck them, Nagi had lifted Zearth's right arm up and swatted the enemy's other claw to the side, toppling it off of them. Some of the kids began to open their eyes and see that they had not been hit.

"That's it," Nagi said to himself. "I can use this guy's own weight against him!" A new wave of confidence suddenly overwhelmed him as he lifted Zearth back up on its feet to face his enemy.

"Nagi?" Waku stated with some surprise.

"All right," he quietly announced. "Now that I'm closer, I can hit this guy with everything that I've got!" And with that, he swung Zearth's right arm at the creature again, knocking it back.

"C'mon, Nagi! Fight!" Anko shouted as he swung at the creature again.

'I think I may finally have the ropes on this creature,' he thought to himself in excitement, and his breathing became much heavier. 'It may have had an advantage of be before, but now that I know it's weakness, I can turn the tides just in time. I can win. I can win!'

The creature then swung both of its arms towards them with immense speed, but Nagi was able to quickly block with Zearth's arms. He then proceeded to kick at the creature's legs, knocking out the two to its left, which caused it to move back.

"After it, already!" Kako blurted out harshly.

Nagi then moved towards the retreating enemy as it swung its arms to ward him away. Instead, Nagi fired the lasers again from Zearth's chest, emitting a cloud of steam from the enemy's surface to distract it, as he then kicked at its two frontward legs, causing it to topple off' balance into the sea.

"Keep going!" Kozue rooted on. "You can do it!"

With their enemy toppled, it attempted to attack again, by swinging its left claw at them. Nagi was again able to dodge this with quick speed and a quick sweat, as he was quickly at the creature's side, and proceeded to shove one of Zearth's long slender arms into the creature's shoulder. Once it tore through, he released a barrage of lasers from Zearth's arm, tearing off the enemy's limb and reducing its attacking capabilities.

"You did it!" Maki exclaimed.

"It's still not over," Kirie stated as they moved closer towards the toppled foe. "How do we beat it?"

"The base," Maya pointed out. "That has to be where its weak point is."

As Zearth towered over the maimed creature, Nagi blocked off the swift thrust it made with both of Zearth's hands, panting harder and harder. Then, shoving its claw aside, he shoved his right arm into the bulb-like base of the creature, with relative ease. Finally, wasting almost no time, Nagi unleashed a vast array of Zearth's lasers from its hand into the base of the creature, incinerating it from the inside. As steam continued to pour out of the creature's base, it's remaining arm had gone limp, and the lights on its face went out.

The creature was dead.

Nagi had defeated it.

Everyone in the cockpit had to take time to absorb the moment, overwhelmed by how narrowly they had achieved their first victory.

"Well done, Nagi Namoto," Kokopelli finally stated.

"Well done?" Machi asserted, as if that was a huge understatement. "Hell, he was totally wicked!" The others soon began to applaud to him, as well.

"You did great, Nagi!" Tsubasa added.

"Dude, you were so cool!" Kozue said.

"Jeez, I really want to go next now," Kako muttered to himself.

"Good job, Nagi." Moji said, smiling towards him. He then noticed that Nagi seemed much shorter of breath than he was before. "Hey, Nagi. Are you alright?"

"I...I think I need some a-air," Nagi struggled to reply. And as quickly as he had spoken, he fell from his chair, clutched his chest and struggled to breathe, much to the shock of the kids around him.

"Oh, God," Moji stated, "He needs help! Kokopelli, please take us back!" And as quickly as he had spoken, the wave of static overwhelmed them, as Kokopelli began to teleport the kids out of the cockpit from their seats, one by one.

* * *

As the children were teleported to the lounge once again, Nagi was still lying on the ground, clutching his chest tightly. The others circled around him in worry, while still trying to give him enough space.

"What's happening!" Anko panicked. "I don't understand!"

"Damn, I thought it could have happened, but I didn't think that it would be this bad!" Moji soon stood closer by Nagi. "All the strain and excitement from the battle must have affected his heart condition! Someone has to get help right now!"

"I'm sorry, Moji," Waku said as he got closer. "I should have listened to you! I should have gone first instead of him!"

"Nagi has a heart condition?" said Kozue. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"Wait, you mean that you knew that he could have problems, and you still let him pilot the damn robot?" Maria asked the two of them.

"Never mind that for now!" Daichi shouted. "Just try to keep him calm! I'm gonna go get one of the teachers!"

"Go quick, dude!" Maki retorted, as Daichi had already headed out. "Everyone's already outside the building!"

"Maybe we should try to carry him."

"No!" Moji exclaimed, and immediately kneeled beside him. "We shouldn't move him. If we do, it might make his palpitations worse. Nagi, just try to control your breathing." And with that, Nagi's breathing became more and more difficult, which lead Moji to immediately clasp Nagi's right hand, with Tsubasa soon grabbing the other.

"Come on, Nagi." She whispered. "You can make it... Please."

Yet despite their pleas for their friend to pull through, his breathing only became more and more troubled, until it had stopped altogether. Right as Daichi had returned with their teacher, the others stood in shock as their friend's skin turned blue and his eyes began to widen.

Nagi Namoto was dead.

Meanwhile, outside, as Zearth stood ominously in the ocean facing towards their school, a light went out on its face plate.

-End of Ch. 4-

In the next chapter: Their latest battle had come so suddenly, and in the briefest moment their recent champion's life had slipped away before their very eyes. How will this affect their battles to come? Will they have to give up their secret to those around them? Could their connection face a few shatters and shakes? Who will stop to give their friend one final farewell? The children take their next steps towards a more shadowy future in the events of Chapter Five: Lying to the Wake.

* * *

I feel that I'm beginning to get very lazy with the length of time that I am using to put these chapters together piece by piece. I suppose that I have just got a lot to deal with at the time, with colleges to look at, summer reading to work on, and an art portfolio to touch up on. Like that's hardly any excuse. But anyway, I am glad to see that things are finally starting to spice up with this story and I hope that my readers haven't begun to lose interest.

Thanks again for reading and have a good night.

-King-of-Wings-360


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